By default you're not permitted in "Safe Mode" to instal or remove MSI Installer related software, because the service is restricted or stopped. You can bypas this, by starting the installer service.
Open PowerShell or CMD (with admin rights) and execute the following three commands:
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"net start msiserver
Thats it, now you can install/uninstall software under Windows "Safe Mode".
- Download Mach2.
- Open PowerShell (Mach2) under admin rights.
- Execute:
.\mach2.exe disable 18755234(disable) or .\mach2.exe enable 18755234(enable)
The October Update is only an upgrade over 1903, you can get the official ESD links here or you download the Media Creation Tool and upgrade your 1903 Build via Windows Update.
Windows Core OS (short: WCOS) is basically a stripped down version of Windows 10. It comes with the bare minimum similar to Windows LTSC version but with UWP as core and not Win32.
They key benefit is that WCOS can be easier build, which makes it easy to introduce support for new hardware.
- No Win32 program support, it (by default) does not come with any Win32 programs (a legacy program support mode is optional)
- UWP core only
- Lighter and "universal" which means it's designed for "all" purposes, Laptops, Tablets & Desktop
- Integrated Windows features can be shared across many different devices (requires WCOS)
- Composable Shell (CShell) is supported, which is needed for e.g. the Action Center, Start menu, or taskbar
- Provides an universal base for Windows
- Faster OS updates (MS claims to deliver and install updates in under a minute)
There are several codenames which indicates different types of WCOS versions, some of them are
Santorininow called Windows 10X for foldable PCs & dual-screen devices and designed to run UWP apps, but it also comes with Win32 program support (sandboxed).- Aruba - Provides Win32 program support (sandboxed)
- Oasis
- GameCore
- Centaurus - Centaurus is the codename Microsoft uses for Santorini on foldable PCs
- Pegasus - Santorini for other form factors
Old codenames (replaced):
- Andromeda OS (outdated, Windows 10 S)
- Polaris (outdated, Windows 10 S)
For those who are not aware what data deduplication is, read this more information and a benchmark.
Data Deduplication feature in removed from several Windows versions, however there is a method provided by the user "dreamss" to get this working on (almost) all Windows versions, incl. LTSB/LTSC and non server variants. He provides the files on his cloud storage.
- Download the package corresponding to your OS
- Extract the files in a folder and from there execute (under admin rights) via powershell:
# You might need to change the versions number (depending on which OS/version you downloaded) - the example is for Windows 10 Build 18362.1
dism /online /add-package /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-VdsInterop-Package-amd64-10.0.18362.1.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-VdsInterop-Package-amd64-10.0.18362.1-en-US.cab
dism /online /add-package /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-FileServer-ServerCore-Package-amd64-10.0.18362.1.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-FileServer-ServerCore-Package-amd64-10.0.18362.1-en-US.cab
dism /online /add-package /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-ChunkLibrary-Package-amd64-10.0.18362.1.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-ChunkLibrary-Package-amd64-10.0.18362.1-en-US.cab
dism /online /add-package /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-Package-amd64-10.0.18362.1.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-Package-amd64-10.0.18362.1-en-US.cab
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Dedup-Core /all- Create a folder.
- Create a batch file within the newly created folder and execute it (make sure the registry files are named correctly).
@echo off
reg import test (1).reg
reg import test (2).reg
reg import test (3).reg
pauseThe default folders for e.g. Desktop, History, My Pictures, SendTo, Cookies etc. can be changed within the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
Changing it is not adviced because this will have negative consequences, some applications are depending on those paths and might even crash if you change them. It is depending if the windows application or third-party application hardcoded the path or not.
There is a full guide avbl. over here. Another way is to manually backup the key (48 digit recovery key) via CMD: manage-bde -protectors C: -get. I do not reccommand that you backup your key online via the official website onedrive.com/recoverykey due to security reasons.
Microsoft oficially dropped the sets idea, according to some official discussions it seems to have caused too many problems (mostly with third-party programs), so that they decided to work on a re-written solution (shell based). There are mainly two solutions, paid & open source:
- Stardock’s Groupy (paid)
- multrin (open source & works on macOS & Linux too)
You may have experienced this error message, which says: "The parameter is incorrect" whenever you try to disable/shutdown (manually) a running service via services.msc (Serveses Tool). This is not because MS does not want it, it is because the registry parameters are not often been updated by MS through their own services tool.
- Go into your registry, open the "services hub":
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\which stores all the services (incl. the enabled/disabled ones). - Locate the REG_DWORD with
Startas name. - The "Start" parameter has several states:
0 = Boot
1 = System
2 = Automatic
3 = Manual
4 = Disabled
Keep in mind that disabling some services can cause some OS instability (Windows does not boot etc.). Make sure you make a backup before you touch/test your service change.
You can use external tools like WinRar, 7-Zip & Co. to compress your data files, however Windows itself has the ability to do this via compact (see here for more details). There is a GUI, called CompactGUI which allows you to easily use compact in case you're not familiar with the command line structure. The GitHub user theChaosCoder, has found a new way to even further compress data files and wrote a small guide about it here.
The rumour around Windows 11 started with Computerworld, the magazin or website is known to guess and spread a lot of FUD. No one can predict future developments but there are certainly no plans (publicly known at least) to go to Windows 11.
My product key are attached to two devices and I exhausted the number of devices this key could work on
There are multiple ways to solve it, the easiest method is to activate Windows via Skype. See here, here & here for more details.
fsutil fsinfo refsinfo c: checks if C: drive uses ReFS and gives you a bunch of details about the refs.sys driver. If you haven't formatted your drive with ReFS it will return A local REFS volume is required for this operation..
This can be done with a command prompt command with admin rights (Run as administrator): “%programdata%\microsoft\windows defender\platform\\mpcmdrun.exe” -revertplatform
Start an command prompt (CMD/PowerShell) with admin rights (Run as administrator) and type shutdown /r /fw /t 0 which automatically reboots your PC and brings you right to the UEFI firmware setup menu.
Control Panel and click on the" Devices and Printers", you see the list under "Printers".
Alternative you can see it via PowerShell: Get-Printer | Format-List
Only Windows 10 Build 1709 and higher has a button for this, so let's do this via takeown and icacls.
takeown /f "%WINDIR%\System32\UsoClient.exe" /a
icacls "%WINDIR%\System32\UsoClient.exe" /inheritance:r /remove "Adminstrator" "Authentificated Users"" "Users" "System"This will show "Update access denied" in the event error viewer, which now allows you to take control over the update mechanism.
Windows PE/Setup mode can automatically detect in which mode you currently are:
; PEFirmwareType
; 0x1 = BIOS
; 0x2 = UEFI
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control
Windows own boot manager check then if you're os has the bootmgr or EFI folder.
%SystemDrive%\bootmgr= BIOS\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi= UEFI
; UIContentType (REG_SZ)
; can accept `Current` & 'Active'
; UIRing (REG_SZ)
; WIF = Fast and Skip Ahead
; WIS = Slow Ring
; RP = Release Preview
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\UI\Selection
- Fast ring + Skip Ahead = RS_PRERELEASE with inbox app updates from the Microsoft Store
- Fast Ring = Major Build releases, very few servicing builds.
- Slow Ring = Major Build with minor build fixes attached.
- Release Preview Ring = Major Build change at a release milestone and then a continued series of Servicing Builds until the next release milestone is reached.
; UIContentType (REG_SZ)
: needs to be set to "Active"
; UIRing (REG_SZ)
; needs to be set to WIF
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\UI\Selection
; ContentType (REG_SZ)
; needs to be set to "Skip"
; Ring (REG_SZ)
; needs to be set to "Skip"
; RingId (REG_DWORD)
: needs to be set to 10
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability
After you're done settig the registry settings you can head over to Settings > Update and Security and click on “Check for Updates” to download the latest Skip Ahead build. You can optionally head to Settings > Update and Security > Windows Insider Program to check if your device now shows Skip Ahead as the preferred Ring.
The official documentation about the registry entries are avbl. here. However, the defaults in Windows 10 are fine and I suggest to not touch them since it might break some websites/applications. I only recommend to touch these settings if you're a server owner (with MS Windows Server).
In CMD or PowerSHell (with Admin rights) type in: wuauclt.exe /updatenow.
Yes, there is. Microsoft itself provides basic information regarding telemetry. However, this is very basic and not really an in-depth guidance. A more helpful analysis can be found here.
Start > Run > sysprep. Select "OOBE", tick "Generalize" (sysprep /generalize), and select "Shutdown". Then replace your motherboard. The next time Windows boots, it should act like it's the first time boot, and setup all your drivers from scratch. Keep in mind that Windows might wipe all external drivers, so you need the new ones + maybe others like graphics drivers. You also have to re-activate Windows except if you link the key to your MS Account.
The alternative is to use Macrium Reflect.
Yes, you can.
Those who aren’t concerned about if they have to upgrade are usually wondering if they should upgrade. So should you upgrade to Windows 10? Barring some compelling reason for not doing so (like you can’t get drivers for a piece of hardware your job depends on) there’s very little reason to not upgrade to Windows 10.
Most Windows 8.1 drivers should work fine with Windows 10, but depending what the driver is for, it may require a Windows 10 driver to function properly.
In most cases it takes maximum an hour, but it's depending on how old your PC is. For me it takes 10 minutes on a SSD and 9 with an M.2.
You can find a feature comparison from Microsoft right here.
Immediately after upgrading to Windows 10, the OS completes a number of tasks and optimizations. This may slow the system down for a period of time. Try waiting for an hour and rebooting the computer to see if the speed improves.
No, your Windows settings, personal files and most apps will remain. However it is highly recommended to backup important files before upgrading, just in case.
If Windows Update did not provide you with the necessary drivers, you should check the manufacturer's website. Even if your PC manufacturer does not have any Windows 10 drivers available, the individual component manufacturer's website may have one listed. Personally I use WSUS, Win-raid forum and Station-Drivers.
You can absolutely downgrade from Windows 10 back to the previous version of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. You can even totally wipe your machine and reinstall your old version of Windows with the old key. But, and this is a very big but, you can only do so within the first 30 days.
I haven’t run into a single app that hasn’t worked yet. It's more a driver thing. UWP apps however are Windows 8+ exclusive.
Windows 10 LTSB does receive the usual monthly security updates. The twice-annual feature upgrades delivered to other channels will not be offered to LTSB systems. Microsoft upgrades the LTSB "build" every two to three years. Those upgrades, however, are optional, or at least optional to some degree (more on that later). Each LTSB build is supported with security updates for a decade, the same 10-year lifespan Microsoft has designated and maintained for ages. The decade is split into two equal halves: "Mainstream" support for the first five years, "Extended" for the second. For Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB, Mainstream support ends in October 2021 and Extended stops in October 2026.
Windows has, for ages, reported back to Microsoft in various forms, it did not started with Windows 10. The most obvious and enduring reporting is the basic Windows authentication process. There’s also the equally as old error reporting service that phones home when your programs crash and things fall apart so Microsoft can, ostensibly, prevent such problems in the future.
LTSB is a specialized edition (for ATM's etc) of Windows 10 Enterprise that promises the longest intervals between feature upgrades of any version of the operating system. When Microsoft dropped multiple labels for Windows 10's release tracks, those now retired included "Current Branch" and the unwieldy "Current Branch for Business", for the single "Semi-Annual Channel" (SAC) it also debuted "Long-term Servicing Channel" (LTSC) to match.
LTSB does not include Edge nor any Microsoft Store (Universal Windows Platform aka UWP) apps, whether Redmond made or third-part, because the browser and those apps constantly change and need updating. The Cortana voice-activated digital assistant and access to the Microsoft Store is also missing.
Servicing tools such as Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) let administrators delay the monthly security updates, which Microsoft calls "quality updates", just as they can postpone those same patches reaching machines running other versions of Window 10.
Ten years is usually the answer you see to that one. But it would be, if not wrong, then misleading. Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB is guaranteed only five years of support - from the time of its release, not its installation - if the underlying license does not have SA attached. With SA, a specific LTSB edition is supported for the full 10 years.
This is done through the Settings panel, follow the steps below to get there.
- Left click the Start button and select Settings
- Click on System and then Apps & Features from the menu on the left side.
- Either search or manually find the app or program you want to remove, left click it and select Uninstall
- Alternatively you can just search for Apps and features from the search bar to get to the same place.
The old way to uninstall programs through the Control Panel is also available. Universal Apps won't show up there, though.
A good tutorial is avbl. here.
A OEM license is non transferable between motherboards. If you have a retail license you may or may not need to reactivate windows after the switch. And you may or may not need to call microsoft to do it.
I think this guide here explains it well.
Windows 1809 (2019) LTSB/LTSC doesn't include UWP apps does this means I can't install UWD drivers?!
You still can use the old legacy drivers (if provided) and even without official support you are able to install the driver with the device manager "have-a-disk" method but several functions aren't available. Keep in mind that LTSB/LTSB is not meant to be used as "normal" OS (for e.g. exactly this reason).
Windows 10 1903 Build 18305 (or higher) is required to enable the internal Sandbox function. There is a techniqual explanation given here.
Via command line, setx /M MP_FORCE_USE_SANDBOX 1. To disable it (default) use 0.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion and change the EditionID value data from EnterpriseEval to Enterprise. Next, change the value data of the ProductName value from Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation to Windows 10 Enterprise. This does not work on LTSC.
Go to regedit: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\StoredIdentities there is an entry where you can delete the @(microsoft).com Key entry. Since Build 1809 there is a integrated option: Settings -> Accounts -> Your Info-> "Sign in with a local account instead" which can be choosed.
There are multiple ways, the official way is that you install Windows Admin Center, open WAC & click on Apps & Features. This allows you to uninstall Store and Win32 apps without the need to relay on PowerShell scripts or other non-microsoft software.
There is no registry "hack" for this anymore, Microsoft closed this as "bug". But you can manipulate the explorer.exe file via e.g. TranslucentTB (Microsoft Store link), TaskDock or StartIsBack++.